Astrophile

005

There were times when you were extra gloomy, and you would always refuse to let her come to your house, let alone meet your parents.

You would always seem so oddly afraid...

Mitsuya couldn't get you out of his head. You were just so cool back then, even if you didn't fight. The nonchalant way you had handled the bullies, threatening them and mocking them made him realise just how cool you were.

He wanted to be just like you. He wanted to protect his family, and he wanted to protect his sibling that was yet to be born.

He realised that day when he met you, that strength should always be used to protect...

He really wanted to see you again, probably ask you to join him for some ramen or mochi, whatever you liked; savoury or sweet, he was fine with either. He wanted to talk to you more and ask you so many questions; What was your favourite food?? What colour did you like?? Did you hate anyone?? Your favourite subject??

Mitsuya never had a friend, so he really had no idea how to make any or how one became friends...

But one thing he knew for sure was that he wanted YOU to be his friend, however, what were the chances that he'd see you again?

Even so, he walked to the same park where he had met you last week, hoping to find you there. To his surprise and excitement, there you were, standing in all your glory.

He would have rushed over and said hi, had he not seen you with someone else; a girl with shoulder-length white hair and pink eyes. She seemed like a bubbly person, since he could see that she was the one who was chirping nonstop, with you chiming in every few sentences.

What he could not have expected was your sight to land on his figure. You waved him over, calling him as you gave him that same homely smile, that same smile that made him trust you the first time he saw you.

"Hey, Mitsuya-san!! Are you doing well?!" You asked him in his usual soft voice, not yelling but loud enough for him to hear you from far away. He gave you soft grin before walking over to both you and Yuki, returning your kind greeting, "I'm doing well, a lot better actually!!! What about you, [last name]-kun?!?"

You gave him a closed eyed smile as you assured, "I'm doing good!!!" You quickly added, "Ah!!! This is my best friend, Yuki!!! Yuki, this here is Mitsuya-san, the one I was telling about right now!!"

She seemed to beam at his figure, "Any friend of [male name]-kun is a friend of mine!! Nice to meet you, Mitsuya-kun!!" She chirped and Mitsuya gave her a bow as well, gladly accepting her kind words. You watched them interact with a kind smile.

Yuki always amazed you with how easily she interacted with others. You were sure she would get along with even Manjirō, that's how peppy she was.

You felt lucky to be her friend, wishing one day, you could be like her, "Ah, [last name]-kun, is everything alright??" The lavender haired boy asked you and you gave him a reassuring nod, "I'm just fine, Mitsuya-san!!"

I'm fine... it was a sentence you used all too frequently, but were you really?

Walking back home after a long day was always dreadful, who knows what mood your mother might be in?! She might just let you walk to your room, or she might beat you black and blue. Her duality scared you.

Today was one of the days, when you could just feel ominous vibes from your house. Walking inside, you firstly took off your shoes.

Placing your bag into your room upstairs, you went down to cook yourself something to eat. Your mother was usually away at work at this time, so you would often cook dinner.

But right now, the moment you entered the kitchen, you felt goosebumps. The hair on your body stood as you stared at the figure facing away from you; your mother.

She was humming a tune, but the moment she felt the wooden floor of the kitchen creak, she halted. Slowly turning towards you, she gave you a chilling smile, "Ah... so you finally decided to show up?" She said in sickly sweet tone.

You gulped, sweat trickling down your neck as you racked your brain for a plausible excuse. She wasn't aware of your daily ice cream detours with Yuki. After all, she was always away at work.

Your breathing hitched when you saw her walking closer to you and instinctively screwed your eyes shut. To your surprise, she caressed your cheek, "You were with a girl, weren't you?!" Suddenly, she gripped your ear, almost twisting it.

You yelped in pain, but then immediately shut up, knowing that it would only make it worse for you, "I thought I told you very clearly, that you were not allowed to befriend any girls.... " Her gaze was sharp and kept her grip on your ear. Fear flooded in your body, afraid of what your own mother might do to you.

She yanked your ear, pulling you towards the back of the house. You tried resisting but it was useless, she was much stronger than you. Opening the back door, she threw you in the small shed, which didn't even have enough space for someone as small as you to lie down.

Your head collided with the wooden walls of the shed as she grabbed a handful of your hair and pulled your head up, "So all this time you've been lying to me?!"

She narrowed her eyes, before clicking her tongue, "I can't believe how disobedient you've become?! Lying to your own mother?! Do you have no shame?!" She yelled, before bashing your head into the metal drawer placed at the side.

Pain flooded your head as you felt a warm, sticky substance drip down your head. She got up, raising her leg, "I will not tolerate this behaviour... Ungrateful brats like you need to be punished... " She stomped on your chest, knocking the air out of your lungs. You felt your windpipe closing in as you felt difficulty breathing.

Tears gathered at the edge of your eyes, threatening to fall. God, you wished for death...

The pain was unbearable, spreading through your body. Your limbs ached at the rough ways she pulled them, punching and slapping you.

She kept going for another 30 minutes before she stopped, panting and looking at your bloodied form. She brought her hand to your head and ran her fingers through the sticky, bloody strands, "I'm doing this for your sake... It's all for your own good... " She whispered, lying to your own face.

"G-Go... to... h-h-hell... " You rasped, barely audible, but somehow she heard it and glared at you angrily.

"So this is how it's going to be... I was thinking of bringing you back inside and treating your injuries, but it seems you have yet to learn your lesson!!" She sneered, her face contoured into an angry expression as she got up and left, slamming the wooden door shut.

'Stupid woman, forgot to lock the damn door...' You thought, shakily grinning to yourself. You placed your right hand in front of your and pulled yourself, dragging yourself out of this hellhole.

Thanks to her stupidity, you managed to successfully drag yourself to the main road. Unsurprisingly, there wasn't a single person to be found. Your neighbourhood was a very quiet place, where if someone even got murdered, no one would care.

Makes you wonder if she chose this place on purpose...

You felt yourself falling in and out of consciousness, barely having enough strength to drag yourself any further.

You weren't sure if you were hallucinating at this point or if someone had really found you. But the last thing you remember seeing was a familiar figure rushing towards you, picking your limp body, up. They yelled something at you, but you felt as if you were underwater and everything was clogged, even your hearing.

Sometimes you wondered if things would have gone differently had you never been born.

If it was only your brother, then maybe your parents would have never gotten divorced and your mother would never have lost her mind in her obsession. The three of them could have lived a good life.

Perhaps, the greatest salvation was never being born.